Evidence of the decline of the Western Australia property market continues to drift in. Australian Property Monitors' data shows that the time taken to sell a Perth house has doubled in the past year - it now takes 13 weeks to sell the typical Perth home.

The average discount (difference between the original asking price and the eventual sale price) has expanded from 3.5% a year ago to 6% now.

Figures from the Real Estate Institute of Australia show that Perth was the only Australian capital city not to record a rise in median prices in the June quarter. The median house price for Perth dropped 4% while the median price for units was unchanged.

Affordability has become a big issue in WA: typical households are now spending 35.3% of income to meet their loan repayments, one of the highest ratios in the nation despite the relatively high incomes earned in resources-boosted WA (and compared to 21% in the ACT and 22% in the Northern Territory).